Learning Disabilities and Dyslexia

How Common Are Learning Disabilities?

Learning disabilities affect as many as 15 percent of otherwise able schoolchildren.

Parents are often worried and disappointed when their child has problems learning in school. There are many reasons for failure in school, but a specific learning disability can be part of the root cause.

A child with a learning disability is usually bright and initially tries very hard to follow instructions, concentrate, and "be good" at home and in school. Yet despite this effort, he or she is not mastering school tasks and falls behind. Some learning disabled children also have trouble sitting still or paying attention.

Early Assessment of and Finding Solutions for Learning Disabilities

Child and adolescent psychiatrists point out that learning disabilities are treatable, but if not detected and treated early, they can have a serious "snowballing" effect. For instance, a child who does not learn addition in elementary school cannot understand algebra in high school. The child, trying very hard to learn, becomes increasingly frustrated, and develops emotional problems such as low self-esteem in the face of repeated failure.

Some learning disabled children misbehave in school because they would rather be seen as "bad" than "stupid."

Albert Einstein was a genius.
And a Dyslexic.

Dyslexia is a reading disability which is often marked by deficits in the decoding of words. It can affect smart people, such as Albert Einstein. This condition use to perplex scientists, and many assumed that laziness was a root cause.

Now research confirms that assistance is often needed to jumpstart dyslexics' stall in reading. Studies show a biological basis for this disability that affects millions of American children and adults. One line of research indicates that dyslexics use the brain regions that process written language differently than those without the disorder.